mvyradio was proud to be the Official New England Station for the DUNKIN' DONUTS® NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL '05. This historic event, where Muddy Waters took the stage in 1960 and the place where Dylan went electric in '65, was once again the spot for a great weekend of the world's finest folk music from singer-songwriters like Richard Thompson and Elvis Costello, Americana favorites Bela Fleck and Gillian Welch, and newcomers like Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion and The Mammals.

What a weekend at Newport!

Mvyradio has been to the Festival before, but never like this. We had the ambitious plan to interview artists, record performances and even broadcast live sets of music over the course of 3 days. The only thing bigger than the task, was our excitement!

Our adventure began Friday night at the Newport Casino at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The lovely setting and the warm night gave great atmosphere to sets by Nanci Griffith [website] and Arlo Guthrie [website], who displayed their true folk hearts.

Saturday we hunkered down inside Fort Adams, our command central and base of operation for a sprawling 48 hours of music, sun and fun. From our tent inside the brick and mortar enclosure, we were able to take a feed from the main stage to a laptop, send it to a wireless link-up, to the radio station on Martha’s Vineyard, and out to the world. We broadcast incredible performances from Kasey Chambers [website], Gillian Welch [website] and David Rawlings, Del McCoury [website], The Old Crow Medicine Show [website] and the first ever acoustic performance by The Pixies. PJ and Barbara were racing around with portable tape recorders, to get personal time with artists like Jane Siberry and Richard Thompson [website]. And the recording crew made sojourns to the side stage, capturing the rollicking song circle featuring The Kennedys [website], Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell, and The Lonesome Sisters. And mvyradio part-time DJ Amy Vanneman worked her full time job---photographer---to snap close-ups of Ray LaMontagne, The Holmes Brothers and Patty Griffin [website]. We also got to spend some quality time with lots of mvy listeners, who posed for picture postcards that we emailed far and wide.

It was pretty amazing---mind-blowing, even---to spend a sunny day enjoying the music, knowing that you were sharing it with friends, with concert goers, with radio listeners and with web-streamers world wide. It was the first of many great Newport Folk Festival adventures. We can’t wait for next year!

Listen to the Audio Archives below!
Note: Some performances are collaged samples based on artist clearances.



Arlo Guthrie
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005

Buddy Miller
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005

Del McCoury
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005

Gillian Welch
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005

Holmes Brothers
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005

Jane Siberry
Performance, Newport Folk Festival 2005

Jim Lauderdale
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005

Kaki King
Performance, Newport Folk Festival 2005

Kasey Chambers
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005
I Changed the Lock, Newport Folk Festival 2005

Lonesome Sisters
Performance of 'Morning Sorrow', Newport Folk Festival 2005

Nanci Griffith
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005

Old Crow Medicine Show
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005

Patty Griffin
(Sample Clips), Newport Folk Festival 2005

Richard Thompson
Interview, Newport Folk Festival 2005

The Kennedys
Performance of 'The Chimes of Freedom', Newport Folk Festival 2005